Natural values, coastal and marine ecosystems of the Circeo

Biodiversity Journal, 2014, 5 (2): 147–150
M ONOGRAPH
Natural values, coastal and marine ecosystems of the Circeo
National Park: conservation priorities
Stefano Raimondi
Circolo Larus, Legambiente Volontariato di Sabaudia. Strada Piscinara destra 2, 04100 Latina, Italy; e-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The variety of environments that characterizes the Circeo National Park must also take into
account, in addition to the terrestrial natural values that are present, even the importance of
marine and coastal stretches that currently do not benefit from a similar regime of protection,
preserving instead important elements of wealth for marine biodiversity. This added value is
represented in a particular way by the presence of Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile, 1813, habitat
of Community interest. The proposal of the Plan of the Park to extend to the sea The Circeo
National Park would help to protect and enhance areas for the most part already included in
the Natura 2000 network that could be handled in a unified manner by the Park providing for
their conservation through various management interventions. Another proposal involves,
instead of creating a true marine protected area, encompassing the whole Posidonia meadows
present both in the northern section of the coast and in the south, between San Felice and
Terracina and, hopefully also the stretch of sea that surrounds the island of Zannone (therefore
including the SPAs area regarding the Pontine Archipelago).
KEY WORDS
Circeo National Park; marine protected area; Posidonia oceanica; Natura 2000 Network.
Received 28.01.2014; accepted 21.03.2014; printed 30.06.2014
Proceedings of the Seventh Malacological Pontine Meeting, October 5th- 6th, 2013 - San Felice Circeo, Italy
INTRODUCTION
The Circeo National Park, established by Law
No. 285 of 25 January 1934 in order to "... protect
and improve the flora and fauna, preserving the
special geological formations and the beauty of the
landscape and promote the development of
tourism," after have suffered several perimetral
changes over the years is now extended for a little
less than 9000 ha., while protecting currently only
a strip of land characterized by the presence of five
different environmental situations that make up the
rich mosaic that characterizes it: the plain forest, the
promontory, the coastal dune, coastal lakes and the
adjoining wetlands, the Island of Zannone part of
Pontine Islands.
The importance and value of the protected area
is especially evidenced by the layering of several
legislative instruments at regional, national, Community and international level that protect the territory and biological forms and abiotic ones
preserved in it.
Regulatory instruments at the regional, national,
European and international level
Institution of the CNP with Law no. 285 of January
25, 1934
Institution of five natural reserves of the State
(1971-1979)
Bonn Convention - conservation of migratory
wildlife species
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STEFANO RAIMONDI
Berne Convention - Wildlife and conservation of
the natural environment in Europe
Ramsar Convention - conservation of wetlands of international interest (presence of 3 sites included)
CITES - regulating international trade in endangered species of flora and fauna
Directive 79/409/EEC (Directive 2009/147/EC
“Birds Directive”)
“Habitats Directive” (92/43/EEC)
Framework law on protected areas 394/91
Act No 157 of 11 February 1992 (Omeoterma
wildlife protection and hunting)
Regional Law 18/88 (protection of minor fauna)
Presence of 2 IBA sites (Birdlife International)
SPA IT6040015 Parco Nazionale del Circeo
SPA IT6040019 Isole di Ponza, Palmarola, Zannone,
Ventotene e S. Stefano
SCI IT6040013 Lago di Sabaudia
SCI IT6040012 Laghi di Fogliano, Monaci, Caprolace e Pantani dell'Inferno
SCI IT6040014 Foresta Demaniale del Circeo
SCI IT6040016 Promontorio del Circeo (Quarto
Caldo)
SCI IT6040017 Promontorio del Circeo (Quarto
Freddo)
SCI IT6040018 Dune del Circeo
SCI IT6040020 Isole di Palmarola e Zannone
The Circeo National Park includes 5 nature
reserves established from 1971 to 1979. Among the
international conventions ratified by our country
that involve it directly, we can mention the Bonn
Convention on the Conservation of Migratory
Species of wildlife, the Berne Convention for the
conservation of the natural environment in Europe
and the wild species, the Ramsar Convention for
wetlands of international value, the Washington
Convention (CITES) for the regulation of international trade of endangered species of flora and
fauna, the Habitats and Birds Directives, the framework law on protected areas 394/91, the law number 157 of 1992 for the protection of homeothermic
wildlife from hunting, and even the regional law
18/88 for the protection of minor fauna. Finally, we
must remember both the presence of two Important
Bird Areas as well, with regard to Community
directives, the two SPAs and the seven SCIs that
insist throughout the area going to generate a multilayered system of protection at different levels both
normative and territorial, which bear witness to the
importance of these places. Nevertheless, thought
it was the first, and for a long time the only coastal
national park in Italy, the sea has always been
regarded in second place in the environmental protection policy.
DISCUSSION
In spite of the attention has always been focused
solely on terrestrial environments of the National
Park of Circeo, of great importance is also the
stretch of sea between Capo Circeo and the Pontine
Islands. In this area were reported indeed marine
mammals as bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus
Montagu, 1821), striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba
Meyen, 1833), common dolphin (Delphinus delphis
Linnaeus, 1758), sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758), and Globicephala spp.
while in recent years are occurring ever more frequent sightings (and strandings) of the sea turtle
Caretta caretta Linnaeus, 1758.
In the sea in front of the National Park, it is also
noted the presence of the following further species
present in the annexes of the Habitats Directive (in
general, some of the marine species listed in the
"Report of the Italian fauna protected" written by
the MATT, a document that lists protection status
and health of every animal species and related legislation, are present along the coasts of Circeo):
Corallium rubrum Linnaeus, 1758. Red Coral,
Habitats Directive, Annex V - reported presence at
the site IT6040019
Pinna nobilis Linnaeus, 1758. Fin noble,
Habitats Directive, Annex IV - Reported presence
at the site IT6040020 and IT6000013
Scyllarides latus Latreille, 1802. Slipper
Lobster, Habitats Directive, Annex V - Reported
presence at the sites IT6040019 and IT6000013
Petromizon marinus Linnaeus, 1758. Sea
lamprey, Habitats Directive, Annex II - Reported
presence with a not very significant population at
the site IT6040019
Aphanius fasciatus Valenciennes, 1821. Killfish,
Habitats Directive, Annex II - Reported presence at
the sites IT6040012 and IT6040013
Natural values, coastal and marine ecosystems of the Circeo National Park: conservation priorities
The Lazio Region, within the programs Beachmed
(Interreg) and ICZM (Integrated Coastal Zone
Management), has produced two publications and
analysis on the priorities for the conservation of
coastal and marine natural values of the region
(BEACHMED, 2004; DECOS, 2006; 2007). The
coast of Circeo (particularly the area in front of
Torre Astura, the area in front of the lakes and the
one between Capo Circeo and Terracina) turns out
to be one of the most interesting especially for the
presence of Posidonia, which performs nursery
function for fish and benthos. It should be recalled
in this connection that the seagrass meadows are
considered a priority habitat of interest at European
level; in Italy, are further protected and secured
since 2001 (Decree Law No. 93 of March 2001).
“La Sapienza” University of Rome has recently
developed on behalf of the city of San Felice
Circeo, a project for the knowledge and conservation of Posidonia meadows in the area of Circeo
(Università degli studi di Roma “La Sapienza”,
Regione Lazio, 2008; Nascetti & Martino, 2009).
According to this work, the current distribution of
grasslands appears to be profoundly changed compared to what is reported in the works described
above. Between Capo Portiere and Torre Astura
there is a compact Posidonia meadow, with a relatively high density and settled on "matte", less compact due to the presence of large areas of erosion in
slightly more depth and patches up to 31-32 m
deep; some areas of this grassland show signs of an
advanced state of regression while in others are
present rock structures. Posidonia is present along
the shoreline in front of Fogliano Lake, while it is
absent between the headland and the mouth of
Caprolace lake where it is present Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Asch., 1870 (Ardizzone & Belluscio,
1996; Diviacco et al., 2001)
The Posidonia meadow placed in front of the
promontory of Circeo is what seems to be the least
changed over the years, probably because localized
further out than the others, and therefore less
influenced by the contributions of continental
waters, but also thanks to the presence of rocky substrates that probably have limited the activities of
illegal trawling. In fact, the most western front of
the Circeo promontory, has a meadow in good condition, settled on the rock in the middle part and on
“matte” all around. A narrow zone with isolated
bundles of Posidonia on dead "matte" is present in
149
the vicinity of the bottom margin (Bouchette et al.,
2008; Ardizzone et al., 2009; Nascetti & Martino,
2009). The central meadow, between Cape Circeo
and Terracina, presents the most important regression of this stretch, especially evident with the retreat of the lower limit. This stretch of coastline was
subject to heavy changes in the coastline due to the
increased human pressure, with negative influences
on both the quality of water on the grain size of the
seabed. Most of the area is therefore occupied by a
meadow extremely rarefied with large areas of dead
"matte" (Bouchette et al., 2008; Ardizzone et al.,
2009; Nascetti & Martin, 2009).
Summing up therefore the expeditious visual
analysis of environmental emergencies and major
areas of interest of the Latium coasts, we can identify two major areas of interest in offshore and subcoast. Among the areas of greatest interest for the
establishment of Marine Protected areas there is the
offshore area in front of the Circeo; among the
inshore areas the stretch between Capo Circeo and
Terracina is particularly interesting for its fertility
due to its geological features.
The Plan of the Park proposes a widening in the
sea of the National Park that would include as well
an extraordinary variety of plant and animal species, protecting and enhancing the features of the
marine and coastal biodiversity, also and above all
through environmental restoration measures. For
these reasons could be implemented programs of
study, monitoring and scientific research in the
fields of natural science and environmental protection, with the aim of ensuring the systematic
knowledge of the area, but also for the promotion
of sustainable development of the environment,
with particular emphasis on promoting traditional
activities of local cultures, tourism and environmentally friendly use.
The areas involved by the proposal for extension
of the CNP to the sea are largely already included
in the Natura 2000 Network. With this proposal,
according to the editors, the management of the offshore part of the “SPA IT6040015 Parco Nazionale
del Circeo” and marine SCI that face the sea coast
of the Park and of Zannone (SPAs "Pontine
Islands") may be carried out in a unified manner by
Park Authority that can ensure their preservation
through various management interventions. This
solution, also, would fully respond to international
commitments in the European context for the
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STEFANO RAIMONDI
management of such sites, providing them with
concrete organizational, and financial skills that
would ensure the achievement of the objectives of
the Birds and Habitats Directives. The proposal put
forward at the time by Legambiente was, instead of
setting up a real marine protected area, to include,
rather, the entire complex of the seagrass meadows
present both in the northern section of the coast and
in the south ( between San Felice and Terracina).
Indeed, the marine area should not only encompass
the entire SPA Circeo National Park, but we imagine that, facing if necessary with any reluctance of
local municipalities, the park could also be a promoter of an extension of the area to the sea area
surrounding the island of Zannone (therefore comprising part of the second SPA of the Park, the one
concerning the archipelago of the Pontine Islands).
The ideal reference is to the “5 Terre National
Park” where the synergy between marine protected
area (institute aimed to the protection of marine
environments) and the national park (which protects
instead the ground part) has created an enviable
model of resource management and, at the same
time, of valorization of the tourist routes on which
the socio-economic system of the district is largely
based.
CONCLUSIONS
The coastal stretch in front of the National Park
of Circeo between Capo Circeo and Terracina and
between Astura and Capo Circeo, is one of the
coastal areas of most interest throughout the region
of Lazio in consideration of the presence of important Posidonia oceanica meadows. The importance
of submerged marine vegetation, especially of the
systems of marine phanerogams, was now scientifically recognized as crucial for their contribution
to the maintenance of infralittoral ecosystems. This
aspect suggests a priority in the preservation of the
natural values of the coastal and marine areas.
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